New tree from old seeds doing well

JERUSALEM, June 13 (UPI) -- Researchers say a 4-foot-high date tree grown from a 2,000-year-old seed is doing well along the bone-dry cliffs of Masada, Israel.

Researchers said they don't know whether the 26-year-old sprout is a male or female, Israelnn.com reported Friday. If it's female, it could bear fruit as early as 2010.

The seeds were found 40 years ago during excavations of Masada led by Israeli archaeologist Yigal Yadin, stored the cache of seeds at Bar Ilan University.

In 2005, medical plant researcher Sarah Sallon asked for five seeds, Israelnn.com, sending two away for radio-carbon dating. The remaining three seeds were given to the Arava Institute of the Environment, where they were soaked in warm water, fertilizer and hormones to prep them for planting.

The seeds were planted on Jewish Arbor Day in 2005.

Carbon-dating estimated the seeds were about 2,000 years old. Masada was built 2,044 years ago and destroyed by the Romans approximately 100 years later.